Bengal beat Punjab to win Santosh Trophy for record 30th time

Kolkata, 8 August : Bengal defeated Punjab 2-1 to win the 64th Santosh Trophy national football championship after 11 years here Sunday. It was a record 30th win for Bengal.
Denson Devadas scored two goals for Bengal after Balwant Singh had given the lead to Punjab in the 30th minute. The hosts came back, cheered by 15,000 fans at the Salt Lake Stadium, as Devadas struck twice (45+2nd, 78th minute) to romp home. Bengal has never lost a Santosh Trophy at home. Eight-time winners Punjab fell short of winning their third title in four years. “This is a memorable day in my career. I want to savour the moment,” said Devadas, who was adjudged the Man of the Match. န Photo : Avijit Mondal

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Lance Klusener could be new Bangladesh bowling coach
Dhaka, 8 August : Former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener may soon be appointed Bangladesh's new bowling coach. The post has been lying vacant since former Sri Lankan pacer Champaka Ramanayake, who left the job due to illness. "I'm in negotiations with them (Bangladesh Cricket Board), it's not finalised yet," Klusener said.
"There are a couple of things that need clarification, I hope to have it finalised in the next week," Klusener told 'Cricinfo'. If appointed, this will be Klusener's first international coaching assignment after completing a level-three course at Cricket South Africa's High Performance Centre in Pretoria. The Bangladesh Cricket Board is reportedly also looking for a fielding coach after deciding against extending Mohammad Salahuddin's contract.

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Kolkata hospital 'Medica' launches air ambulance service

IANS, Kolkata, 8 August : The Medica Superspeciality Hospital here Sunday launched an air evacuation and consulting service for patients in various cities in West Bengal and other states including upto Uttar Pradesh in the north and Tripura in the northeast. A four-seater SkyHawk plane, to be used for the purpose, has already arrived in the city, the hospital said in a release.
The service will cover Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow and Kanpur, Bihar’s Patna, Gaya, Darbhanga, Jharkhand’s Ranchi and, Jamshedpur, West Bengal’s Behala, Coochbehar, Jhargram, Medinapur and Bagdogra, Assam’s Guwahati, Tezpur, Jorhat and Silchar and Tripura’s Agartala.
“The SkyHawk can be deployed in such cases to pick-up the patient and one relative for transportation to Medica Superspeciality Hospital. A Medica ambulance will receive them at airport and bring them to the hospital. If the patient cannot be airlifted, then Medica will fly a doctor (cardiologist/neurologist, as the requirement may be) to see the patient at his location,” it said.

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Maoist frontal 'PCPA' may contest next WB Assembly polls

Kolkata, 8 August : The People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), which is allegedly a Maoist frontal organisation, plans to contest the 2011 assembly elections in a few seats in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district with the support of Trinamool Congress.
A recent intelligence report, which reached Writers’ Buildings, suggested that some key PCPA activists are in talks with Trinamool Congress leaders in West and East Midnapore districts to reach an electoral pact with the principal opposition party, which is still organisationally weak in Maoist-infested Lalgarh and Jangalmahal. The PCPA has given a clear indication of its intention of contesting the next assembly polls with the support from Trinamool Congress. The organisation has announced it will join Mamata Banerjee’s meeting in Lalgarh on 9 August. န Photo : Courtesy

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Bengal tourists safe, but still stuck in different parts of Leh

Kolkata, 8 August : As snapped telephone lines in Leh started getting restored after the devastating cloudbursts early on Friday, tourists from West Bengal called their homes, much to the relief of their families. There are no reports so far of any fatality from the state. Most tourists are cut off but safe and are trying to make their way back to the plains.

As the tourists had put up in concrete buildings, the cloudbursts did not affect them. But they realised how lucky they were after seeing the destruction all around. Inspector general (law and order) Surajit Kar Purakaystha also confirmed that all tourists from Bengal were safe. "We are coordinating with the Leh district administration for safe transit of tourists from West Bengal. We have opened two local control rooms at Leh 09906990787 and 09906990613 to help tourists from Bengal. Their relatives can contact our central control room at +91 33 22145486 for information. With the devastation there, tourists are unlikely to be able to leave Leh before 11 August," he said. န Photos : AFP, AP

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TMC confident of getting more support in Andaman Islands
UNI, Port Blair, 8 August : The Andaman Nicobar Trinamool Congress, which was launched here recently, is confident of winning more ground in these Islands.
Though the support for the party during the foundation day of Andaman Nicobar Trinamool Congress was average, experts believe that the scenario will change once Andaman's Congress and BJP parties start distributing tickets for coming Panchayat and Municipal elections. ''This is obvious that now grass-root leaders and rebel party workers have another option open. Once we start giving tickets for next elections, those who fail to get the same, will surely join TMC. However, real party worker will never leave the party,'' a senior Congress leader of Andaman and Nicobar Islands told UNI today on the condition of anonymity.

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Landslide disrupts famous Toy train services in Darjeeling

ANI, Gayabari, 8 August : Landslide in Darjeeling district caused the roads to cave in, which in turn severely damaged the narrow gauge track on which the famous Toy train runs.
The landslide has upset all road links from Siliguri to various other places in Darjeeling district such as the hill resort of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Sukna. The business of locals in Gayabari village suffered as the suspension of the toy train services has decreased the influx of tourists in the region and the breaches in the road on National Highway 55 has closed all routes of communication for them.
"The breaches in the road have resulted in a lot of inconveniences. The rail tracks have been broken since the last two months but we don't know when they will finally get repaired," said Hare Ram Thakur, a local shopkeeper. This time the rail authorities are waiting for the road authorities to repair their side of the damages first before the rail line can be laid again. န File Photo

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17 generation units closed, triggered huge load shedding

UNB, Dhaka, 8 August : About 17 power generation units at different power stations across the country remained closed on account of either gas shortage or maintenance and rehabilitation that triggered huge load shedding in recent days.
According to official statistics, these units having total generation capacity of about 1595 MW now remained out of operation. Of the units, 727 MW of electricity is now not being produced because of gas shortage while another 868 MW of electricity is not coming to the national grid on account of maintenance or rehabilitation of different generation units. “That’s why the country has been experiencing severe load shedding in recent days,” said a senior official at the Bangladesh's Power Development Board (PDB).
The closed major generation units include two 210 MW gas turbine units at Ghorasal power station, one 125 MW unit of Barapukurai coal-fired station and 120 MW unit at Siddhirganj peaking plant.
The country’s total generation was projected to be 3969 MW at the peak hour on Saturday evening against a demand of more than 5500 MW. PDB officials hoped that most of these units, which remained closed on technical ground and now under maintenance programme, will be able to resume generation from middle of the current month.

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